Heel-concaving machine



Sept. 14, 1926.

N. L. GULLIFCRD HEEL CONCAVING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 24,- 1923 Sept. 14 1926.

N. L. GULLIFORD HEEL CONCAVING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m L a 5 4 iv c r a M d e 1 1 F Patented Sept. 14, 1926.

UNITED STATES" PATENT OFFICES.

NICHOLAS L. GULLIFORD, or PEABODY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 GREGORY &

READ COMPANY, .or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A COR'rORATION or MAssA'eHU- SETTS.

HEEL-GONCAVING MACHINE.

Application filed March 24, 1923. Serial as. 627,402.

My invention relates to heel concaving machines and particularly to heel concaving machines of the class shown and described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 7 96,194, granted August 1, 1905, to Fred A. Day.

Heel concaving machines of the class referred to are primarily intended for use in making Wooden heels and operate upon the top of the heel to make the same concaved so as to fit the heel portion of the shoe to which it is applied. In a machine of this kind thereis provided a reciprocally supported carriage that is movableback and forth past a rotary cutter, the heel being clamped to the carriage while being operated upon by the cutter, and the carriage, in addition to its reciprocating movement, being also moved or shifted sidcwise to cause the cutter to properly'engage and shape the top side of the heel. Heretofore, the only means provided for preventing displacement of the heel while being operated upon by the cutter has been a pair of jaws mounted upon the carriage and engaging opposite sides of the heel to clamp the latter in position upon the carriage. A. heel tapers from top to bottom so that even when gripped between two jaws it is quite easily displaced upwards and therefore. the cutter is driven in a direction to cause its blades to strike downwardly upon the top of the heel; In theoperation' of a machineof this kind theheel is moved toward the cutter with its breast forward and itvery often happens that as the heel is brought into engagement with the cutter and the blades of the latter strike obliquely and; it consists in providing means adjacent the. cutter, .for positlvely preventing upward displacement of the heel by the cutter, said means. preferably consistingof an abutment occupying a position in front of the cutter and'immediately, alongside or above the path of the top of the heel. In the best form of my invention this displacement preventing means is constituted by a ball caster that is preferably supported with provision for ad'- jusgment toward and from the path of the ice V Other features of my invention are here- 1nafter pointed out. y,

In the accompanying drawings Flgure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a heel concaving machine embodying one form of i'ny invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view on line2'2 of Fig. 1, 7 I

Herein I have illustrated my invention as embodied in a machine of the type shown and described in the patent to Day, above referred to, and in the accompanying drawing's, 1 represents the usual rotary cutter having a convex cutting periphery which operates upon the top of the heelI-I to give to the same a concaved shape. The cutter l is fast on a shaft 2 journaled in bearings on the frame of the machine and carrying a pulley 3 through which said shaft is driven by a belt, not shown. V y

The wooden heel blocks, completely shaped except for their tops which areflat, are placed, one at time, upon a work rest and gauge 4 constituting an adjustable and removable part of the heel holding carriage of the machine. IVh'en a heel is in post.

tion upon the rest 4' it occupies a position bet-ween two jaws 5 and 6 that are; rigidly secured; to a pair of levers 7 and 8" fulcru'm'ed at' 9 and 10 upon the body 1'1 of the heel holding carriage, A spring 12' com nec'ted at its ends to levers 7 and 8, normally holds the jaws .5 and 6 in their open positions so that the operator can place the heels in position upon the rest 4 toflbe operated upon "and remeveth'em therefrom after they have been operated upon.

The body 11 of the heel hold ng carriage" is pivo'tally connected at one end, as at 13', to a pair of brackets 14 fast on a pair of slide-bar's 15.

carrying a vertically adjustable screw 17 by which theopposite end of the body 1 1 is" Thiscons'truction provides" for These'slide-bars 15 also have" fastened to theinthe ends of a cross-bar 16' cutter.

with slide-bars 15, or at the desired angle with relation thereto. The thickness of the rest ldetermines the position, vertically, of the top surface of the heel with relation to a horizontal plane touching the periphery of the cutter 1 at the lower side thereof, and therefore, the depth of the cavity produced by the cutter.

The two bars 15 are slidably supported near their outer ends in bearings provided on a bracket 18 which in turn is slidably supported by a transverse bar 19. Near their opposite ends the bars 15 are slidably mounted in bearings, not shown, that are pivotally mount-ed upon the frame of the machine so as to permit the bars 15 and their supporting bracket 18 to be moved sidewise, first in one direction and then in the opposite, while the cutter is in engagement with the heel, in order to properly shape the cavity it, Fig.

2, which, as will be observed, is wider near the middle of the heel than at the breast thereof. The'heel holding carriage including the bars 15, is normally held at the limit a of itsoutward movement toward the left by springs, not shown, and after placing a heel upon the rest 4 the operator .shoves the heel supporting carriage inwardly (toward the right) by hearing with his body against a push bar 20 fastened at its ends to the outer ends of the bars 15. At the start of this inward movement the inner arms of the levers 7 and .8 are brought into engagement with a pair of stationarily supported rolls 21, 21, therebyclosing the jaws 5 and 6 against the opposite sides of the heel. The rest 1 is made with an abutment gauge 22 against which the breast of the heel is placed when the latter is in position upon the rest so that said heel is held against displacement in any direction laterally by positioning abutment 22 and the jaws 5 and 6 while be ing operated upon by the cutter 1.

Heretofore, however, it very frequently happened that as the cutter 1 engaged the breast portion of the heel during the inward movement of the heel carriage, the rear portion of the heel would be displaced upwardly, resulting in the destruction of the heel by the cutter, and theloss in heels from this cause has been very large in the past.

To obviate this objectionable feature of machines of this kind as heretofore constructed I have provided means adjacent the cutter, which occupies a position immediately above the path of the initially flat top side .of the heel, and in front of the cutter, said means serving to prevent the rear part of the heel from rising as the breast portion thereof passes into engagement with said As herein shown, this means may be a stationary abutment in the form of a ball caster 23' supported by an arm or bracket 24 fastened by screws 25 to the frame of the machine, said screws 25 occupying tapped holes in the frame originally provided for two of the screws by which the bearing 26 for shaft 2 was fastened to the frame 27 of the nachine. Thus a feature of my invention consists in constructing this heel restraining means as an attachment capable of being applied to heel shaping machines of this class now constructed or in use.

The caster 23 comprises a steel ball 28 rotatably confined within a socket 29 provided at the lower end of a threaded stem 30. The stem 30 is screwed into a tapped hole 31 provided in bracket 24 and carries a check nut 32 by means of which it is held against movement relatively to the bracket. The stem 30 is set in adjusted position so that the ball 28 rolls against the flat top side of the heel as the latter is moved into engagement withthe cutter, and it will be clear that upward displacement of the heel through the thrust of the cutter thereon, is effectually prevented. It will also. be clear that the ball 28, being free to rotate in any direction, interferes in no way with either the in and out, or sidwise, movements of the heel that take place during the operation of shaping the latter.

that I claim is 1. In a machine of the character described, the combination with the rotary cutter mounted upon a stationary support and the movably support-ed heel holding carriage, of means for engaging the top side of the he e] as it is carried toward said cutter to pre vent upward displacement of the heel while said top side is being operated upon by the cutter.

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination with the rotary cutter and the movably supported heel holding carriage, of stationarily supported means for engaging the top side of the heel to prevent upward displacement of the latter while said top side is being operated upon by the cutter.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination with the rotary cutter mounted upon a stationary support and the movably supported heel holding carriage, of a stationarily supported abutment adjacent and in front of the cutter for holding the heel against upward displacement while b-eingoperated upon by the cutter.

4. In a machine of the character described,

the combination with the rotary cutter and the movably supported heel holding carriage, of a ball caster stationarily supported adjacent and in front of the cutter, and serv-' ing to hold the heel against upward displacement while being operated upon by the cutter.

5. An attachment for machines of the character described comprising a heel engagmg abutment and a supporting bracket there for, said bracket being adapted to be secured to the frame of the machine and to support the abutment in front of, and adjacent, the cutter so that it will engage the side of the heel that is engaged by the cutter in advance of the latter thereby to prevent upward displacement of the heel While the latter is being operated upon by the cutter.

6. An attachment for machines of the character described comprising a ball caster and a supporting bracket therefor, said bracket being adapted to be secured to the frame of the machine and to support the ball of the caster in front of and adjacent the cutter so that it serves by engagement With the top surface of the heel to prevent upward displacement of the latter While said top side is being operated upon by the cutter.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my 20 signature.

NICHOLAS L. GULLIFORD. 

